Hartford Official Injured In Crash Involving City Vehicle

HARTFORD — A top city official and her fiancé injured in a crash involving a city-owned vehicle early Saturday morning have been released from the hospital, police said.

In a statement Monday, Saundra Kee Borges, the city's corporation counsel and acting chief operating officer, said she apologizes to Mayor Pedro Segarra "for any inconvenience or speculation this incident may have caused."

Kee Borges was a passenger in a city-owned 2013 Ford Explorer driven by her fiancé, Deputy Fire Chief Terry Waller, when the accident happened around 2:17 a.m., according to city police.

Waller was driving through a green light at the intersection of Asylum Avenue and Cogswell Street when a 2004 GMC Yukon driven by Edwin Rodriguez, 30, of 173 Albany Ave., went through a red light and hit the city vehicle, police and city officials said.

Rodriguez fled from the scene to "use the bathroom," he told police, according to a press release. He was later arrested at his residence. He faces charges of evading responsibility and failure to obey a signal.

Kee Borges and Waller were extricated from the Explorer and brought by ambulance to St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford. Their injuries were not life-threatening and both have since been treated and released, Lt. Brian Foley said Monday.

In her statement, Kee Borges said she was attending an NAACP dinner Friday night when "I received a call from the Hartford Police Department regarding one of my children." According to police, Garrett Borges, 24, was arrested at 10 p.m. Friday in connection with a domestic incident and was released from custody at 5 a.m. Saturday after posting $5,000 bail.

Borges appeared in Superior Court in Hartford Monday to face charges of disorderly conduct, threatening and possession of marijuana.

After getting the phone call about her son, Kee Borges said she left the Hartford dinner "immediately and drove to the Public Safety Complex on High Street in my city vehicle of which I have full commuter privileges.

"An accident occurred as I was on my way home from the police station with my fiancé Terry Waller, a Deputy Fire Chief for the City of Hartford, just after 2 a.m.," Kee Borges continued. "While driving through a green light, another vehicle struck us and then fled the scene. Terry and I were taken to the hospital, where he remained until late Saturday morning. Thankfully we're both OK and the police captured the individual responsible for the hit and run.

"I want to thank the Hartford Police and Fire Department, the ambulance crew for their quick action and I want to thank the staff at St. Francis for treating us with such care. I also want to apologize to Mayor Segarra .... Although Terry is a city employee, I should have driven myself. At that moment, I was deeply concerned for my child as any parent would be."

Segarra noted Monday that Waller, as a high-ranking fire official, is authorized to drive a city vehicle. However, the city's guidelines on take-home vehicles state that such "commuter" cars should not be driven by anyone other than "the assigned employee, except during normal duty hours and only by another employee as directed by the department manager."

Segarra said he was still reviewing the facts of the case, and "to the extent that [Kee Borges] might've deviated from the city policy, she has provided an apology."

The rules for take-home vehicles also state that "the vehicle will not be used to conduct personal business ... Brief stops transiting between home and work are acceptable." Kee Borges and Waller were attending the annual NAACP Freedom Fund banquet at the Hartford Hilton in their capacities as city officials, according to Segarra.

The city recently reduced the number of take-home vehicles in its fleet, citing financial issues, and Segarra reiterated Monday that he will continue to seek savings and "keep the fleet to an absolute minimum." But the cuts come after two incidents involving city employees and city vehicles.

Earlier this month, the city deputy public works director, Rhonda Moniz-Carroll, was charged with drunken driving after a crash that totaled a city-issued vehicle and injured another driver. Moniz-Carroll was fired. An attorney for the other driver has contacted the city.

And in July, Mayor Pedro Segarra's former chief of staff, Jared Kupiec, was charged with using a car without permission and interfering with police.

Kee Borges was identified recently as one of the city employees who is authorized to take city vehicles home.

Hartford City Councilman Kenneth Kennedy, who has introduced a proposal that would limit take-home vehicle usage to the mayor, police and fire chiefs and anyone whose car is subject to collective bargaining, said Monday that employees such as Kee Borges should use their private vehicles and be reimbursed for mileage.